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An epidemiological study of aplastic anaemia: relationship of drug exposures to clinical features and outcome
Author(s) -
Kelly Judith Parsells,
Jurgelon Jan M.,
Issaragrisil Surapol,
Keisu Marianne,
Kaufman David W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.1996.tb01645.x
Subject(s) - pallor , medicine , aplastic anemia , epidemiology , pediatrics , drug , surgery , bone marrow , pharmacology
Two hypotheses were examined in the combined data from 3 case‐control studies of aplastic anaemia, conducted in Thailand, Europe/Israel and the US: 1. Cases exposed to drugs associated with a significantly increased risk of aplastic anaemia are more likely to present with thrombocytopenia (e.g. petechiae, easy bruising); and 2. cases exposed to these drugs are more likely to recover quickly than non‐exposed cases. After excluding all cases who lacked information on timing of symptoms and those whose symptoms began ≥ 180 d before hospital admission, 392 cases remained for analysis. A total of 51 (13%) had been exposed to one of the significantly associated drugs; the remaining 341 (87%) had not. Among the former, 31% reported thrombocytopenia either before or at the same time as non‐bleeding symptoms (e.g. pallor, fatigue); the corresponding proportion among the non‐exposed was 53%. Data on time to recovery (return of the 3 blood cell lines to normal levels) were not available for the Thai cases; among the others, the median time to recovery for the non‐fatal cases was 7 and 6 months in the 29 exposed and the 83 non‐exposed cases, respectively. The data do not support either hypothesis: the two groups of aplastic anaemia cases appeared to be similar in both the presenting symptoms and the recovery time.